There are moments in life when a single experience alters not only the path ahead, but the way we understand ourselves. Actor-playwright Amy Rutherford’s new play Reproduktion springs from one such moment—a raw, life-changing rupture that she has transformed into a deeply human work about fertility, grief, and the search for meaning. The result is a world premiere that feels both intimate and expansive, rooted as it is in Rutherford’s reckoning with loss and the unexpected creativity that followed.
Rutherford has long been a celebrated fixture in Canadian theatre, known for her award-winning turn as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, numerous evocative performances at Soulpepper, Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, Necessary Angel, and Montreal’s Segal Centre; as well as her film and television work, which includes shows like Murdoch Mysteries, Kim’s Convenience, and Molly’s Game. A graduate of the National Theatre School and Stratford’s Birmingham Conservatory, she is also an award-winning playwright – whose play Mortified won the Carol Bolt Award – and an expressive arts practitioner.
But nothing in this extensive creative life prepared her for the experience that sparked Reproduktion.
In 2017, she travelled to The Czech Republic to undergo an IVF procedure. She recalls how in the clinic, “each time the operating room door swung open, I’d glimpse a new patient on the operating table with her feet in stirrups and her mouth agape.” When her turn finally came, “I’d barely been placed on the operating table, when I felt the prick of a needle. Within seconds, I was unconscious.” She woke to learn that “the procedure turned up nothing: not a single egg. But the experience left me forever changed, both physically and mentally.”
She was consumed by an overwhelming sense of loss: “In the wake of this experience, I felt as though I had reached a ‘dead end’. Stuck in a story that I had not written for myself, I felt like I had missed out on what I had always considered the utmost rite of passage for a woman: giving birth.” She speaks in raw terms of the “guilt and shame of knowing that the maternal line of my family would die with me”, and the need “to find some way of carrying forth their story.”
Ultimately, she says simply, “I needed to birth something. And so Reproduktion was born.”
By turns funny and moving, Rutherford’s new dramatic comedy examines the primal desire to procreate—and what it means to create a life of meaning when that call goes unanswered. Reproduktion, premiering at Here For Now Theatre in Stratford, follows Flora, a woman who travels to Sweden for an unconventional fertility treatment, which sets off a startling transformation. Despite her personal perspective, Rutherford approached the subject with great care: “Studies have shown that women experiencing infertility suffer emotional stress levels similar to cancer patients and cardiac rehabilitation patients. I wanted to honour this experience of grief and trauma, while also providing a positive outlook: How do people who do not procreate or tick the boxes of cultural expectation uniquely contribute to their communities? How does anyone, when reaching an impasse in life, find a new way forward?”
Enter Stratford’s Here For Now Theatre: “Here For Now tells stories that centre around ‘othered’ voices, and silenced or lost histories, so my play felt like a perfect fit,” explains Rutherford. “This little theatre company has become a critical supporter and generator of new Canadian plays. Fiona Mongillo is a deeply curious artist and had faith in Reproduktion long before it grew into the script that it is today.”
In fact, Rutherford describes her Reproduktion creative collaborators as a “dream team”, and lights up when speaking about them: director Marie Farsi and I first worked together on her acclaimed play Fifteen Dogs in Montreal in 2024. From our first meeting, I knew that she was a perfect fit for Reproduktion. She is a deep thinker and theatrically adventurous, and has worked extensively in bringing new plays to life. She also has a fantastic sense of humour!”
As for the cast, “Stratford locals Rylan Wilke and Tyrone Savage have performed at The Stratford Festival and are both highly skilled, playful actors. Fiona Mongillo is a natural fit for Flora, as she brings both comedic chops and emotional depth to her role. And Maggie Huculak has been on board from the earliest workshops of Reproduktion. She is a beloved performer in the Toronto theatre community, and brings tremendous heart and soul to this production.”
And Rutherford is equally proud of the team of local designers, “without whom the Reproduktion story could not be told: Sound Designer Adam Campbell, Projection Designer Jonah Luscombe, Production Designer Patricia Reilly, Head of Props Ariel Slack, and Lighting Designer Louise Guinand.” Finally, she also credits her dramaturge, “world-renowned theatre-maker Jonathon Young: an outside-the-box thinker with a tonne of experience in multidisciplinary work and new creation.”
Ultimately, Rutherford hopes that Reproduktion opens up space for reflection and compassion: “My life may have not led me to procreation, but it has deeply enriched my outlook and opened doors to new experiences. I like the expression, ‘You can have more than one thing, but you can’t have everything.’ I don’t know where I first heard that, but I think that it’s a useful adage. I find meaning in connecting with my community, in my work, and in my friends and my family, who I have the privilege of loving and caring for.”
And her surprising life journey has presented her with new ways to find meaning: “I have worn many hats – some a better fit than others,” she laughs. “Post IVF, I actually trained to become an expressive arts therapist, which has deeply informed my work both as an actor and a writer. It encouraged me to follow my own imagination and to have confidence in the transformative power of art.”
That confidence – and that power – have manifested as Reproduktion, which runs until November 30, 2025 at Here For Now Theatre in Stratford, Ontario. Tickets are available at herefornowtheatre.com.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine 2025
